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The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and the International Living Future Institute (IFLI) released a new guidance document to streamline certification efforts for projects pursuing both Green Star and Living Building Challenge ratings. This follows a commitment by the two organisations in 2016 to work collaboratively to promote the design, construction and operations of positive and restorative buildings in…

Pittsburgh is the birthplace of American manufacturing and a city with a vision to reimagine itself as a center for innovation, green manufacturing, and job creation. The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) is partnering with Green Building Alliance (GBA) to help make this vision a reality through the creation of a Living Product “Hub”. Co-located at GBA’s office in Pittsburgh’s…

For many of us it has been hard to cling to a sense of hope when we see basic human rights such as clean water, clean air, and freedom of religion under attack. Our work here at the Institute often requires courage as we seek to create a Living Future for all. Van Jones has been on the forefront of…

For those who have visited Miami Beach you most likely arrived by driving over one of the several causeways that that rise up from the mainland of Miami and as you descended on this beautiful barrier island you noticed the rise of tall condo buildings crowding out to the beaches. The City of Miami Beach is a 12-mile-long island at…

The Desert Rain House located in Bend, Oregon, has become the first residential compound to earn Living Building certification, the most ambitious and optimistic international standard of sustainability in the world. Developed by the International Living Future Institute, the Living Building Challenge certification requires actual, rather than modeled or anticipated, performance across environmental, social and community impact. Therefore, projects must…

The International Living Future Institute announced that the Living Product Challenge and Declare are now recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Recommendations of Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels for federal purchasers. The recommendations, which help federal purchasers identify and procure environmentally sustainable products and services, include the Living Product Challenge and Declare as recommended standards for a range of…

The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) announced today that Jonathan Lash, president of Hampshire College and an internationally recognized sustainability leader, will join the ILFI’s Board of Directors. Under Lash’s leadership, Hampshire’s newly constructed 17,000 square foot R.W. Kern Center is pursuing certification as a Living Building, a major part of the college’s broad initiative to transform its campus into…

1. Van Jones Van. Jones. Need we say more? The talented civil rights leader, former Obama White House advisor, and CNN political correspondent will be one of our keynote speakers. Van is the Founder and President of Dream Corps – an incubator, platform and home for world-changing initiatives that empower the most vulnerable in our society. Not to mention, he…

The Living Community Challenge (LCC) calls upon planners, developers, policy-makers and community members to rethink how they design, build and plan for community-scale projects, including streets, blocks, neighborhoods, campuses and more. The LCC provides a vision and framework that can lead a community towards the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment. Early October marked the launch of…

Mannington Mills rEvolve® Product Receives First Declare Label To Be Third Party Verified by GreenCircle Certified Consumers and specifiers alike are increasingly looking for transparency in products, whether it is to verify point of origin, to understand environmental impacts, or because they want to eliminate exposure to toxic ingredients. That’s why the International Living Future Institute created Declare, a ‘nutrition-label’…

Atlanta and the South East are generally perceived as being the last ones to adopt the latest performance-related codes or certification. Nothing speaks more to this than the fact that we are still on the ASHRAE 90.1 2007 code in the year 2016. My first encounter of Living Building Challenge was during my visit to Vancouver when I toured the…

As a New Yorker, I have spent the majority of my life following the city’s pulse, and growing in the shadow of its skyscrapers and trees. I know the energy and physical spaces of New York City intimately and I’m familiar with its exhilarating and test-to-the-soul challenges. Despite the lack of nature and competitive environment, I am not the only…

On Friday, October 7th, Mayor Ed Murray signed legislation to continue the Living Building Pilot Program until 2025. The updated Living Building program legislation expands on a pilot program started in 2009 and increases the number of buildings that can participate to 20. There are new provisions and adjustments in the legislation that align better with city and state laws, as…

Casa SN House (the initial letters of the two owners Sara and Nicola Berlanda) is Italy’s first Living Building Challenge registered project. The home will be built in Trento, Italy close to the gorgeous Lake Garda. The site was a former greenhouse, and thus the owners will demolish the current structure and work to remediate the land (concrete basements, small…

Humanscale, Bureo, Owens Corning and Garden Tower Project have received Living Product certification for new and redesigned products that meet the high bar of the Living Product Challenge, that is, to design and manufacture products that function as elegantly and efficiently as anything found in the natural world. Turning inspiration into action, these forward-thinking companies were awarded new certifications at…

A University of Oregon design team has won the first Living Product Prize in the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge for the Living Filtration System, an innovation that creates healthier soils by preventing nutrients from leaving fields in runoff. Their $10,000 Living Product Prize win was announced at the Living Product Expo in Pittsburgh, PA yesterday. “Living Filtration System has proven…